It's a small world after all

For those familiar with the Disney ride that accompanies my title, you can imagine the song I am singing in my head after reading this post.

Case #1

When I first arrived here, and a few ladies were told that I liked to play tennis, I was invited to play doubles. I walked into the court, anxious to meet new ladies, and lo and behold...

there is a lady there that I knew when we lived in Maracaibo, Venezuela.

She is Venezuelan, and was transferred to Malaysia when I first started living in Maracaibo. Our paths crossed a few times on her visits home, but I never imagined living in the same place as her again.

Case #2

We were invited to a Scottish Society Burns Night. It is a chance to dress fancy and go to an event...something that does not happen very often here in Atyrau, I am told. So why not...

we arrive at the event and I saw a lady that looked familiar, but really only gave it a shrug and figured she looked like someone. I saw her closer to me a few minutes later, and the nagging feeling that I knew her crept into my head. Her husband was next to her by then, and once I saw him, I thought, I need to go up to them. I walk over and she says, Ballerina Girl? Oh my gosh, I can't believe you are here in Atyrau!

Funny thing is that I couldn't recall her name...you may ask now, why is that funny?

Well, she has the same name as my daughter and she lived a few floors below us in Maracaibo!

Her and her husband are Dutch, and I'm not sure where they went after Maracaibo...but once again, never expected to see them here.

Case #3

Sunday, my friend from Case #1 calls me to play tennis outside of our camp, in a sports club here. I jumped at the chance seeing as I have not been there, it is a nice to leave camp and be with other people every once in awhile, and it was on a clay court...which I much prefer to the hard courts. I asked who was all playing and she mentioned one lady I didn't know and another that I knew....

yep, in Maraciabo! I could not believe it really. This girl played tennis a lot in our club there, and we knew her fairly well. We also played Mah Jongg together. They are also Dutch and left for Dubai when they moved out of Venezuela. I told Case #1 girl to not let on who they were picking up this morning.

So, when they came for me, I had my big coat and a hat on. I opened the van door and she said hello and went to introduce herself until I took off my hat. She could not believe her eyes...

A lot of expats say that the oil world is small, and it is true. The funny thing about these stories though is that these families are not with the same company as my family. I find it to be even more of a coincidence that we would all end up here in Atyrau.

I feel like I am riding on the Disney boat singing the song....